The instant invention relates to chain mail safety apparatus and more particularly to chain mail garments of the type used by meat cutters.
It has been found that it is highly desirable for persons involved in meat cutting operations to wear protective gloves and/or other types of protective garments in order to avoid being cut or wounded by sharp instruments, such as a knives or blades, which are used to cut meats. In this regard, protective garments have previously been constructed from a flexible chain mail material. For example, the U.S. Pat. No. to Kruse, et al 4,471,495 discloses a chain mail glove construction. The chain mail material used to construct such garments comprises a plurality of stainless steel rings or links which are interconnected to form a sheet of material. It is difficult for any kind of sharp cutting instrument to pierce this type of material, and therefore protective garments formed from chain mail have been found to be highly effective for preventing a majority of the cuts and wounds which are caused by sharp instruments.
With regard to protective gloves, it is usually only necessary for a meat cutter to wear a protective glove on one hand, since the other hand is normally used for holding the knife or other meat cutting instrument, and is thus less likely to be injured. Hence, it is necessary for protective gloves to be made for both left-handed and right-handed meat cutters. In this regard, reversible chain mail glove constructions, which can be worn on either the left hand or the right hand, are disclosed in the U.S. Pat. Nos. to Ziegler 4,750,218 and to Rivkin 5,054,126. However, it has been found that the prior art reversible glove constructions have several drawbacks which make the gloves difficult to clean and uncomfortable to wear. Since the gloves are reversible, a means for securing the cuff portion of the glove around the wearer's wrist must be provided on both sides of the cuff portion. The Ziegler glove construction includes fabric straps and buckles which are secured around the cuff. Fabric straps are known to be very susceptible to fouling with meat and fat particles during cutting operations, and it can readily be appreciated that the reversible fabric wrist straps would be difficult to clean after becoming fouled. In addition, the straps must be removed from the glove for cleaning, and therefore can become lost or misplaced. The Rivkin glove construction includes snap securing means which are disposed on the inner and outer surfaces of the cuff portion of the glove construction. However, the snap fasteners provide small areas where meat and fat particles can accumulate, thus making the glove difficult to clean. It can also be appreciated that the snaps of the Rivkin construction will make pressurized engagement against the skin of a wearer and cause irritation and/or bruising when the strap is tightly fastened around the wrist for prolonged periods of use. The drawbacks concerning external cuff securing means are also applicable to other types of chain mail garment constructions, such as tubular arm protectors.
Accordingly, among the objects of the instant invention are: the provision of a chain mail fabric which has elastic characteristics; the provision of a chain mail garment construction which is reversible, comfortable to wear and easy to clean; the provision of a chain mail garment construction which does not include any external fasteners for securing the garment in position; and the provision of chain mail garment constructions with an elasticized chain mail cuff.
In the instant invention, the chain mail fabric of a chain mail garment is impregnated with an elastomeric material, such as latex, to provide the fabric with elastic characteristics. In most cases, a chain mail garment would be formed using conventional techniques and then impregnated with latex by dipping the garment or a portion thereof into a latex solution. However, a chain mail fabric pre-impregnated with an elastomeric material could potentially be used to construct garments such as aprons and the like. In a first embodiment of such a chain mail garment, a glove construction comprises a chain mail glove portion having an open end, and a chain mail cuff portion connected to the open end of the glove portion. The glove portion includes interconnected rows of stainless steel wire rings which extend longitudinally in the direction of the fingers. The cuff portion comprises interconnected rows of stainless steel wire rings which extend laterally around a wrist in encircling relation so that the cuff portion is expandable in diameter. The cuff portion of the glove is impregnated with latex to provide elastic characteristics to the cuff material. The instant invention still further provides a chain mail arm protector comprising a chain mail sleeve portion having open ends and cuff portions connected to each open end of the sleeve. The sleeve portion includes interconnected rows of stainless steel wire rings which extend longitudinally in the direction of the arm. The cuff portions comprise interconnected rows of stainless steel wire rings which extend laterally around the arm in encircling relation so that the cuff portions are expandable in diameter. The cuff portions of the garment are impregnated with latex to provide elastic flexibility.
Other objects, features and advantages of the invention shall become apparent as the description thereof proceeds when considered in connection with the accompanying illustrative drawings.